What's so bad about socialism?

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This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you what. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Seek. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. What's so bad about socialism?

I mean, what's so bad about socialism, communism, any of these things? Because there's a lot of people in this country who are saying, hey, they think it's a really good thing. I mean, I'm looking at a study right now, it says that one-third of churchgoers and half of young adults prefer socialism over capitalism. I mean, these are Christians, for goodness sakes. A third of Christians who are going to church in the United States believe that socialism is the way to go.

What's so bad about it? 866-348-7884. We want your calls. 866-34-TRUTH. This is Michael Zwick.

And, you know, when I was thinking about this, I was thinking, you know. I remember when I was in college. And there was a guy who used to come around. His name was KJ. And his name was Kevin Johnson, but we called him KJ.

And one day there was a guy who came in and they said, well, what are you studying? And he said, I'm studying socialism and this, that, and the other. And he goes, it sounds great on paper. I mean, right? I want somebody else's stuff.

I mean, why not, right? I mean, I've been working my whole life. I've been working hard and somebody else is out there making more money than me. Or I don't want to work. I don't feel like working.

I want your stuff. Right? I mean, there's people who say, you know, the Bible says, hey, it says to, you know, that they all split everything up between themselves.

So, hey, if it says that in the Bible, there's people online who are saying Jesus was a socialist. You know, he said, sell everything that you have, give it to the poor. Come follow me, and then you'll have a treasure in heaven. Does this mean that Jesus was teaching socialism? We want your calls: 866-34Truth.

And so. You know, I was reminded of a story I heard years ago, and they said that if you take a frog. And if you throw that frog into boiling water, Then immediately the frog will jump out because it knows that it's in boiling water and it can't stay in the boiling water. But they also said if you take that frog and you put it into lukewarm water and you slowly bring it to the water. to a boil.

Then all of a sudden, that frog's going to die because it really didn't see it coming. And see, a lot of the leaders now, they're not saying, hey, we're going straight for communism. No, no, no, no, no. They just say, hey, we want to make the rich pay their fair share of taxes. And they should pay their fair share of taxes.

But, you know, what does that really look like in the long term? What has socialism done in other countries? What is communism done? Done in other countries. We've got a James out of Roxborough right now.

How are you doing today, James? All right. Good. I just wanted to give you a uh a few facts. Um, Karl Marks, the guy that designed Um communism.

said that socialism is the immediate post capitalist stage in this phase the means of production and Um publicly are owned by the state. but distribution is still governed by a principle. This transitional phase goes into the communist phase where the government. is in control of everything.

So um it's not people that look at socialism and say that it is a good thing Um basically aren't looking at the transitional state. as uh sort of like a caterpillar forming into a butterfly. If a caterpillar forms in a butterfly, it goes through a stage A change And comes out a butterfly. Um, except th this butterfly you won don't want to see because the state ends up owning everything and private property becomes Uh null and void. Um therefore you or giving everything you have to the state, and the state decides what you want, what you get and what you don't get.

And Ronald Reagan said Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, handed down. For them to do the same. Or one day we'll spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children, what it was like to once live in the United States where men were free.

So anybody that is willing to give up their freedoms. Doesn't deserve them to begin with, and one that relinquishes their freedom. but really doesn't deserve the freedom to. Um Reagan says in this present time That um Everybody's looking to government for the solution, but government is the problem.

So want to listen to some historical people tell us What was going on? Every form of government that started out with socialism. And copied into capitalism has failed and been bailed out by the United States, by the way.

So if we fail And we go into a social estate or Communist A. The world has no one else to look to. Yeah, the world has nobody else to look to. And I did an interview, James, with a mayor of Graham, North Carolina. And this was just something I did on my own.

And I asked her, I said, well, are you optimistic? And this was last year or the year before about your chances to win the election. And she said, you know, she said, I hope so. She said, I'm, but I'm concerned. And she said, they've done studies, James.

And they said that when people are angry or when they're riled up or when they're upset about something, then they go out there and they vote because they want to change. They said, but when people are pretty satisfied with the way things are, they tend to not vote. And I tell you what, if this happens this fall, if Christians do not get out and vote, I believe we're in for a whole big, whole lot of trouble. How about you?

Well, that's the thing that I just mentioned about Reagan here. We don't pass on freedom down through the bloodstream. We don't pass it on down by people doing nothing. It must be fought for and protected. And handed on.

To them to do the same. We should practice the things that we're saying in front of our children or those that are younger than us.

so that they will see that it is important. not just today to fight for that freedom, but tomorrow, the next day, and so on and so forth. Unless we do that. We are gliding into Uh nothingness. We're basically allowing the government to have control over the people instead of what our Constitution says, the people have control over the government.

So If you if you don't want to vote. What you're saying is you don't really care how things go. Period, no matter what. I mean Um it's not a question. Uh Um, it does your vote matter?

Because everyone's vote matters. The question is, how much do you care about? Your ability to vote because of you. If you keep saying, well, my vote doesn't matter, one day you're going to wake up and find out your vote really doesn't matter. Oh, that's a good point.

And we've seen that in other countries that actually just happened over in South Korea. But, you know, Karl Marx, this is what he said himself. He says, thus heaven I've forfeited. I know it full well. My soul, once true to God, is chosen for hell.

And not only Karl Marx, but the whole Nazi thing that happened in Germany, it was the National Socialist Party. It was, they were there to really help people. They thought they were going to be there to, you know, change people, help people. Karl Marx himself grew up, his parents, I think, were Jewish, but they ended up becoming Lutheran. And when he said, hey, they don't really care any more about that than just to say, hey, we're Lutheran.

He said, then this thing must not be that serious. But later on in his life, his friends and his family said that there was a real darkness in his life. And a lot of these people were deep into the occult. And if you remember 2020, When everything was going down, I mean, we were pretty close to some race riots, and everything where the country was just a mess. But it was all of a sudden, there were people out in Portland and Seattle and other areas as well.

And they said, We are not just against the conservatives. They said, We're against the Christians. And I tell you what, if we don't do something now, if we don't fight for our rights, Then we are going to be in trouble. And James, I want to thank you for the call. 866-348-7884.

This is Michael Zwick. What's so bad about socialism? I mean, they say a third of churchgoers are now socialists and this, that, and the other, but I don't know. I mean, what's so bad about it? We want your calls right after this break.

You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, guys, what is so bad about socialism? And I know we've had some people say that they've been trying to call in and they've had a tough time calling in, but go ahead and call in again, 866-34TRUTH-866-348-7884. And, you know, I was thinking about this and I heard a story about a frog and a scorpion. And a frog was trying to get across the river.

And what happened was, was there was this scorpion who said that he said, I want to get a ride with you across the river. And the frog said, he said, no, he said, I'm not going to give you a ride across the river. He said, if I give you a ride across the river, you're going to sting me. And the scorpion said, no, he said, I'm not going to sting you. He said, if I sting you, we're both going to go down.

And the frog thought about it for a second and he said, you know what? You're right. He said, if you sting me, we'll both go down.

So he said, I will, he said, I'm going to go ahead and give you a ride. And he's giving, the frog is giving the scorpion a ride across the river. And all of a sudden, while they're in the middle of the river. The the scorpion stings the frog. And when the scorpion stings the frog, the frog kind of looks up as they're both drowning.

And he said, Why did you sting me? He said we're both gonna drown And the scorpion said. because I'm a scorpion. And I've heard people say this before. They say that with the stuff that we've got going on in our society, with what we've got going on in our world, we've got a lot of problems.

And socialism or communism, it seems to be the answer to the problems. It seems to be, hey, this is going to fix the problem that we've got. But we've got to realize that socialism and communism is a scorpion. It's stung before and it's going to sting again. And yes, it sounds really good.

You ever heard the expression? If it sounds too good to be true. It probably is.

Well, you can look at something else as well. And the other thing that you can look at is this: what has happened in the past? I'm sure you've all heard that history is known to repeat itself. Do you know that Venezuela back in the day, Venezuela was one of the wealthiest countries on earth? And then in the nineties they started this socialism experiment.

And look what's happening now. Things have gone to hell in a handbasket. And I'm telling you what, you know, people may not like capitalism. They may have problems with capitalism. But, you know, I kind of like what I believe it was Winston Churchill said.

He said that democracy has problems. It has its issues. It's bad. It's this, that, and the other. He said, but it's the best thing that we've got.

Democracy is the best thing that we've got. And so if we do not go out and vote this fall, if we don't get involved in politics, we're going to be in trouble. We're going to be in trouble. You know, it's funny. I, you know, because I do the radio, I have my regular job that I do this, that, and the other.

But I went down to the local Republican Party, went down to the office, and I said, I want to help out. What can I do? And so they gave me a list of people to go to. And I went door to door and I started knocking and I was encouraging people to vote. And you know what?

There were people who were on the other end and they were so encouraged that somebody cared enough about them to try to get them to come out and vote. Because there's a lot of people who don't want to vote or aren't able to vote, or they think that people don't care, or they think that it's not going to make a difference. I mean, what can they do? What can they change? They're just one person.

But God uses People who were just one person. If you look at the Bible, God uses many times the unlikeliest of people to change the world for Jesus Christ. If you look at Gideon, Gideon was a coward, he was hiding from his enemies, but God came to him. And he said, Gideon, you mighty man of God, Yeah. And he came to him, and Gideon believed.

And Gideon thought that the Lord was going to give him this great army, but he gave him a very small army because the army that we win with. Is not necessarily in the numbers or anything like that, but it's in the prayerful, powerful people of God who are willing to take action, who are willing to step in and to do something for the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, what can I do?

Well, the first thing that I would do is I would pray. I would pray. That is the first thing that I would do. And a lot of times we look at the world and we say, the world is having all these problems. The world is doing this.

The world is doing that. And this, that, the other. We want to blame the world. But I'm going to tell I'm here to tell you something. That it's not the world who is the problem.

You know, the Bible says in 2 Chronicles 7:14, he says, If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways. Then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. And I'm here to tell you today. That if you have the faith as small as a mustard seed, that you can tell that mountain to go into the sea. But what we've got to do is we've got to pray for God to do a mighty miracle.

Because a lot of people say that this fall, this November, that things look bad. And they do in many places. And you look at many of these Senate seats that are up for grabs. And you look at many of the places in the House and even areas that have been conservative. And they say, well, we could lose them.

But I'm here to tell you this, that when Christians pray, it forces God's hand to move. If my people who are called by my name, it doesn't say if the world. You know, it's funny. I was talking to a friend of mine earlier this morning, and we were talking about a couple of things. And I said, you know, the Lord took me to Zephaniah chapter 1 this morning, and it was talking about how there was going to be judgment, and the Lord was going to bring judgment, and all of these bad things were going to happen.

And I tell you what, there's either going to be revival or there's going to be judgment. And if we pray and if we share the gospel and if we do our part, then God will move. I was talking to a friend of mine earlier today named Cody, and we were talking about politics and talking about socialism and this, that, and the other. And he said, the greatest thing that we can do to avoid bad people getting in the government is to pray and to share the gospel. And that's what we do.

We go out every Saturday. We go out during the week and we tell people about Jesus and we pray and we share the gospel and we heal the sick, cast out demons. Freely we have received, we give freely because of what God has done for us. And people are saying, well, I already do that. I pray.

I do this. I do that. But I'm telling you what, it's like that guy James said earlier when he called in. It's one thing to pray. It's another thing to act.

You know, the Bible says in the book of James, he says, you say that you have faith without works. He said, but I will show you my faith by my works. I'm going to go out and tell people about Jesus. I'm going to go out and pray for the sick. I'm going to go out and do every help the poor, give money to the poor, do what I can for the kingdom of God.

But we also need to vote because if you look at some of these other countries, if the wrong people get in, A lot of times there's some problems. And, you know, it's funny, there's some people who will always see everything wrong that is with a situation. You know, I heard about a guy who actually went out one day and he took his dog for a walk and he said he threw the stick in the lake. And he said he thought his dog would swim out and get the stick and bring it back to him. But instead of uh swimming to the stick, the dog walked on water all the way across the lake, got the stick and came back.

And he said, This is so amazing. He said, I am going to get my friend, my neighbor, to come and see what my dog just did. He walked on water.

So he went next door and he called his friend and got friend came out to see the dog. And he said, Look at this. And he threw the stick and the dog ran across the water and ran back. And he said, Did you see what my dog just did? And his neighbor said, Yes.

He said your dog can't swim. He didn't see the fact that his dog was walking on water doing all these great things. There are some people who are just going to look at everything that's wrong with capitalism, but I'm telling you what, we can stand firm until the end. 866-34-TRUTH, 866-348-7884. This is Michael Zwick, and we will be right back after this break.

We want your calls. Truth talks. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, guys, we are back on and 866-34Truth. We've been having some issues with the phone line, and I know a lot of people have been telling me they've been trying to call in, but I will tell you this: socialism is on the lips of a lot of people today.

And so, I don't know how many people have thought about it or what people are thinking about socialism, but you know, it is something that is on the minds. And so, I tell you what, if we don't vote, if Christians don't vote this fall, we're going to find out pretty quickly what it is like one way or another. And I heard a story about a guy who he said that, you know, he had a guy at Walmart one day. He asked him, he said, excuse me, he said, can I get a dollar from you? And the guy said, I'm sorry, I only carry bigger bills.

And he said, well, can I get a bigger bill? And so he said he handed him his electric bill. And I know for a lot of us, we've been feeling the pain at the gas station and we've been feeling. The pain in a lot of other ways as well. But when socialism comes, or if it comes, it's going to be really, really bad.

But, anyways, you know, it's good to be here today. You know, I talked about this, and there was somebody I was thinking about. And one of the things that they said was this: they said, Mike, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And I want to tell you right now: if you love the Lord, you are going to pray for your country like you've never prayed before.

You are going to get into the Spirit of God. When you hear the Lord speak, you're going to move. You know, when God says go, you don't I heard Chip Ingram recently, he said this. He said, You really, there's people who really want to know. I want to know what the will of God is in my life.

And we've got a Rick Pearson. Are you there, Rick? Yes, can you hear me? I I sure can hear you, brother. And I know we've had some issues with our phone system, but you're up from Canada talking to us right now.

And Rick, I was going to ask you this. I mean, what's so bad about socialism?

Socialism.

Socialism goes totally against scripture. The Bible, Jesus. When he taught, he said, Give, and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. He didn't say, sit, and it shall be given unto you. He didn't say, protest and it shall be given unto you.

He said, give First, you have to serve other people. And that was the commandment that he gave. Atom From this day forward, you will work. And working means that you serve other people and you meet their needs. And then, in turn, God will meet your needs.

And that's the root, the basis of capitalism. And somebody was having a discussion with a socialist, and he said, capitalism has not worked in this country. And I said, Bill, capitalism has never worked. For people who won't.

Well, the Bible does say, Rick, in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, it says that we have told you this from the beginning: that he who does not work. neither shall he eat. That's correct. And you know, there's there's um There's a pattern, there's a rhythm. that God has given us.

that we serve others. We receive And then we take a portion of that. And we give a portion of that. Increase To other people who can't work, other people who are in need, and that's called giving and receiving. And that's why he said to bring your tithes and offerings into the temple so they could disperse it to people.

You know, there's a lot of people that cannot work. They're physically handicapped. They just can't work. We, as Christians, should be helping those people that can't work. But if you sit around and you don't want to work, That's why socialism does not work.

Because you have to work in order to get. You must give first. And that's why socialism has always, always failed. in all these countries.

Now we have a form of socialism when we give our taxes and it helps others in need, but that's part of almost like the tithing system that God set up. We give a portion that pays for roads and hospitals and things like that. But socialism in general goes totally against. scripture and so does um So does diversity, equity, and inclusion. D-E-I.

It goes to D-E-I. It goes, it means didn't earn it. That's exactly what it means. When God chose David, He said, I don't look at the stature. I don't look at the skin color.

I look at the heart. And David's heart was right. He became a leader. because of merit-valued A merit-valued system that God looks at the heart and He said, I want this man. Because of his heart I want him to lead my people.

I want somebody that's willing to give up their life for the sheep. And David was elected. And then he God put him in the valley and he took the head of Goliath right off. And God looks at the heart. You don't hire somebody because they're good looking or they're tall.

You hire somebody because they can get the job done. Yeah.

So it's merit-based.

So I've heard people say, Rick, they said it's not the size of the dog and the fight, but it's the size of the fight and the dog. And so I'm sure that we've all had people, Rick, who have surprised us. On both sides, we've had people who had all of the talent, they had the looks, they had the charisma, they had everything that it took to make it in the ministry, but they ended up having moral failings because their character was not right. Their character was not right. And then you've had other people in the ministry that you've looked at him, you go, oh man, I mean, I don't mean to be mean, but this guy's never going to make it.

But they loved the Lord, they prayed, they worked hard, and God showed them the increase. And He uses ordinary people, Rick, but you know, He doesn't use people who are just sitting around and doing nothing.

Now, yes, we have to pray. And I said this before: that when we pray, God acts, okay? But we also have to act. We also have to get out there and vote because you've kind of seen firsthand: has socialism been tried out in Canada yet? Oh, we're we're deep into it right now.

And we have a socialistic Government right now that's controlled by the World Economic Forum. And the World Economic Forum. They're basically bankrupting Canada right now. They're giving money away like a drunk sailor on steroids, and they're just giving billions of dollars away over to Europe for climate change. We just gave.

Uh a hundred Our prime minister just dedicated 100 million to the Palestinians. Mm. which will go right into Hamas. basically and um The World Economic Forum wants to bankrupt The West. And then go to a universal income so everybody makes what the government tells them they can make, and then they will own you.

You will own nothing. They will own everything. You will own nothing and be happy. They will own everything and be happier. Yeah, that's true.

And you know, Ricka, you are with Prophecy USA, and I'm talking to Richard Pearson from Prophecy USA. I think on Facebook, the last time I saw you had over 61,000 followers. On YouTube, you have over 20,000 subscribers. And you've had people like John, who is it, Cohen, Jonathan Kahn? Jonathan Kahn.

Uh Jack Hibbs Um We just had John Bevere on. Yeah.

Uh and and we're we're interviewing people We had a former forerunner of being the Prime Minister in Canada. We had him on about six months ago. He was talking about Israel. But right now, the world is being divided By a dictatorship socialist European Common market who wants to run the world, they want to tell Canada what you have, what you can and can't do. If they could handle it, they could get into the States and do it to the States.

But your administration right now is on to them. And America is fighting this whole beast system. It's the Antichrist beast system in scripture that wants to rule the world. And they want to rule the world without God, without the Ten Commandments, without the Judeo-Christian value system. They throw the Bible out the window and they believe that they can do it.

With their secular humanism. And this is what is happening right now. And they appeal to people. Who don't want to work? They appeal to people who want to sit back and let somebody else do all the heavy lifting.

Give me a government check. I don't care. And they don't care if they own anything, but it really bothers them if somebody else owns something. That's right. That's right.

That's right. And I had a pastor tell me there's a lot of Christians that don't care if they have a lot of money, but it really bothers them if somebody else does.

Well, you know, I remember Rush Limbaugh. I used to listen to him during the day, and he was talking about these different socialists or communists. And I think he mentioned Bernie Sanders. And he said, Bernie Sanders is doing what most socialists are doing in their free time. And that's he's out there making money.

And he would always rant against the millionaires and the upper class and this and that. And now Bernie Sanders is a multi-millionaire. What do you say? You know? They're crooked.

It's a dual. It's rules for thee and not for me. That's basically how the socialists work. And they're all the same. They lay out this big candy-coated platform.

where they're gonna give everything away and you get everything for nothing and then People buy into it. And hopefully. enough people in Canada wake up And we will get rid of this. current Liberal government, which basically is an extension of the World Economic Forum because the majority of people in our Senate are World Economic Forum graduates. In fact, Charles Swab Was it Charles?

Claus Schwab from the WF. About 10 years ago, he was bragging because. Uh Justin Trudeau had put his whole cabinet in. of the Senate And they were all World Economic Forum. graduates.

So we've got People from Europe and outside of Canada, now running Canada, and the taxpayers. They don't have a voice.

So it's really serious what's happening in Canada right now. It's really serious. And it would be happening in the States if it weren't for your current administration. Yeah, and if we don't vote, it's going to be a lot like it is in Canada. Rick Pearson, we're going to be right back after this break.

But I tell you what, we've got to pray. And we've got to act, and I'm going around knocking on doors, getting people to vote. We'll be right back. You're listening to the Truth Network and TruthNetwork.com. All right, guys, we are back for our last segment.

We've got Rick Pearson from Prophecy USA, and I believe Rick just saw Rick's dog climbing around him over in Canada. Is that right, Rick? Yes, that's Max, our Airedale. And I saw your... Max is...

He's our only child, and he's got my wife's big brown eyes, and he's got my nose. There you go. There you go. Well, it's always good to have a friend. And I remember watching the movie Wall Street many years ago with, you remember Gordon Gecko?

I don't know if you remember that movie or not, but he said, sometimes he said, if you need a friend, get a dog because it seems like a lot of your friends will let you down. Is that right, Rick? Well, you know what? We don't have any children. We marry late in life, and our dog is almost like our child.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that's a good thing. Have a dog. That's a good thing. Love our dogs. Good thing to have a dog.

Well, you know, we've been talking about socialism, Rick. And so I was reminded of a story about W.C. Fields. Do you remember him? Yes, I do.

He was a comedian or whatever, but he wasn't. Atheist, out and out atheist. And he didn't try to hide it or anything like that at all. But, you know, one of the things that happened to him is he was laying in the hospital right before he died. And he knew he was dying.

And somebody saw him reading his Bible, reading a Bible. And they said, What are you doing reading a Bible? He said, You're a devout atheist. And he said, I'm looking for loopholes.

Well, the truth is, is that there are no loopholes in the Word of God, and there are no loopholes with socialism. I mean, Rick, this thing has been tried again and again and again and again, and it doesn't work. I mean, what makes people think it's going to work this time? I don't know. I can't understand, but all I can say is they don't know history.

And the Bible said there's nothing new under the sun. People have made the same mistakes over and over and over again from generation to generation. But you know, when it comes to. When it comes to the scripture, Mike. We all know that we have to work.

In order to please God. But I heard the story once of a A German industrialist who had a factory before World War II broke out. And he decided, he and his wife decided they were going to give their church an organ.

So they bought the church in Oregon. World War II broke out.

Okay. And his factory and his house were bombed, and he lost. Everything. and they went to church that next Sunday. And he looked up at that organ and he turned to his wife and he said, The only thing we ever kept.

Is what we gave away. Oh, wow. And the Bible says Give And it shall be given unto you. Pressed down, shaken together, running over. If you want to acquire.

Treasures in heaven. You cannot do it by sitting around and doing nothing. You have to work. You have to do what God has assigned you to do. You have to roll up your sleeves.

And you have to go work. And then, if our working as a career, maybe real estate. The money that you make, that's substance. The first person, the first Gentile that got saved. Was Cornelius.

And an angel came to him, and he said, Your alms and your offerings have come up for a memorial, Cornelius. Go to Peter. And he will show you the way of salvation. You know, your money can be used to spend on yourself, but it can also be used to invest in the kingdom. And you can transfer your money.

From the earth Into heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt. And you can do that with your time. You can do that with your talents. You can do that. With just being kind to others, doing unto others as you'd have them do unto you, all of those things.

are giving You must give. If you're going to serve God and you give to others Who have needs. And this whole thing with socialism, it's all about receiving. It's all about me, myself, and I, the unholy trinity. What can I get?

For nothing. Yeah, and there was a, I heard about a college kid who went off to school and they were conservative and dad was conservative and mom was conservative. And he came home and they said, well, how are your grades? And they say, he said, well, I got straight A's. And he said, okay, that's really good.

And he said, but dad, I've become a socialist. He said, you've got to see this is the greatest thing ever. He said, dad, you got to get on board with this. And his dad said to him, he said, okay, he said, you got an A in your class. He said, what about your best friend?

How did he do? And he said, well, he didn't work very hard. My best friend got a D. And his dad said, okay, well, you like socialism. Why don't you guys split the grades and you both get a C because you got an A and he got a D or an F and you'll just split it.

And he said, that's socialism. And all of a sudden, the kid thought about it for a second and he said, dad, I don't think I really like socialism that much anymore because what it's about is it's getting something for nothing. And God never promised us, Rick, something for nothing. That's why as Christians, that's why we don't, you know, I don't work really hard during the week and then on the weekends go to a casino and say, hey, I'm going to stake everything that I've made this week on a bet. And you know why I don't do that, Rick?

It's because God never promised us something for nothing. That's exactly right. And you know, it's interesting how Jesus gave the parable. of how the different men some reaped. 100%, some reaped 30%, some reap 20%, and some didn't reap at all because.

They stored it and they wouldn't give it away. And I don't know where that parable is, but it's in the gospels. But you can reap 20, 30, and it's the same thing with your relationship with God. If you want. to get close to God.

Start spending your time helping people. And say, God, help me to help these people. And in business, If you want your business to flourish, you start taking a portion of it, and say God I'm going to give you a portion of this substance to help others. You know, I used to sell buses. This is a true story, Mike.

I used to sell buses for a company called Bluebird School Buses. Yeah.

And and when they started that company, mister Luce, Sr., His wife Was the Daughter of a Methodist minister. And he started building buses. He was a Ford dealer, but he started building these little buses for people. and they started the factory. and they were building, I don't know, maybe one bus a day.

And the factory burnt down. And at that time, there were six manufacturers building buses. And he said to his wife, He said, I I can't do this. He said, I'm going to have to find a partner. And she said, Why don't you make God your partner?

And he said, What are you talking about? She said, Write him into the Constitution.

So they made God part of the partner. Of Bluebird, and every year they supported missionaries all over the world. That company grew to be the number one bus manufacturer in the world, with five plants building 165 buses a day at its peak. And it all was because they decided to give a portion of their fruit to help others. They supported hundreds of missionaries.

And Rick, and Rick, Stu Epperson wants to say a word real quick. Go ahead, Stu. Hey, Rick, I really like where you're going with that, my friend. Can you guys hear me? We sure can.

Yes. Yeah, I just it's you know, it's it's heartbreaking and I think that we need to not get hysterical, but we need to get historical. Because all these young people, after they elect a socialist into government, into power, they're going to get hysterical. When they have no medicine, And there's breadlines around the block, just go ask an Albanian, go ask a. Romanian, go ask a Cuban, go ask a Venezuelan.

Venezuela was the Fourth wealthiest country in the world 25 years ago. And all they did to change that, they had amazing natural resources, their economy was flying, they had markets killing it. They had incredible industrious people. They were more wealthy than China 25 years ago. Imagine that.

They had a thriving military, and they had one guy get elected who said, Hey, He ran on, Hugo Chavez said, hey, I'm going to make this country better. I'm going to make all the, there's not going to be a lower class. We're going to make money for all the poor people. And we're going to equip these venture capitalists, these brutal, these capitalists. We're going to teach them something.

25 years ago, today, kids are dying in the streets in Venezuela. Hugo Chavez destroyed that country single-handedly with communism, socialism, Marxism. And the Venezuelans, these are sweet people. They're begging for help. And by the way, they love Donald Trump.

And I'm not trying to put him on some pedestal, but because he's actually given them some tough love and trying to help bring their country back with principles that are based on freedom. in free markets. And allowing you to keep what you earn, and allowing you to give. If you want to give, give, you know, and that sort of thing.

So. You guys are hitting a hot spot here. And ultimately, we know where our freedoms come. They come from the Judeo-Christian ethic. They come from the freedom of the religion, the freedom of speech.

All that comes from a constitution that's steeped in our Christian values. And so this is such an important issue. And I'm glad you're talking about it. Yeah, we are too. And Stu, I was talking to you a little bit earlier on the phone.

And I said, Stu, I said, you know, what socialism is, is it's not being happy with what you've got. And I remember when I was in college, I went to college for the first time and I joined this Christian group and I got an ice cream. And I said, well, I don't know if this ice cream is really that good or whatever. And the leader said, well, Mike, maybe you should just be happy with what you've got. Yeah, 100%.

100%. It really feeds on and breeds on discontent, social envy. A lot of this DEI stuff comes out of socialism.

So you want to make everyone equal, okay?

So the secretary makes the same as the CEO.

So, you just level all the playing fields, and then what happens? No one makes money except for the government, and they become the totalitarian.

So, everything they say to get elected. And everything they say bad about everything that Roy Cooper, everything that these guys are saying about their opponent is exactly what.